The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1887-10-01
RUINED BY BEER.
The Malt Liquor Responsible for a Large
Share of Female Inebriety.
EsPnar doaS If -

Beer does it. y
docs what?', asked the reporter.
at starts them" replied the police
sergeant. 'Do you see that woman?"
1t would have been impossible not
to see her, and having seen her once
it would be even more difficult to for
get her. She was not old, yet she was
bent and crooked as a scrub oak. Her
dress was of the poorest quality, be-
draggled, soiled and ragged. Her face
was scanned with lines or dissipation,
and her brown hair hung down her
back in matted and tangled coil. She
leaned heavily against the sergeant
desk, and looked defantly around her.
MARY" said the sergeant, ''what is
it this time?'
"Nothin'," responded the woman.
"What is it, ofiicer?"
Drunk and disorderly," replied the
officer. ''She was singing There
is II better land to the tune of we
won't go home till morning on Tenth
avenue about an hour ago, and when l
went to take her in she laid down in
the gutter and l had to get a truck to
haul her to the station house," and the
officer wiped his face as though the re-
collection even made him warm.
Take her downstairs" remarked
the sergeant mo need of question
ing her. I know her pedigree. Ten
years ago." continued the sergeant,
addressing the reporter, MARY was
as pretty girl as lived in this ward. l
once thought of marrying her myself,
but friend of mine was ahead of me
and the wedding was the event of the
season."
what is the cause of her down
fall?"
Beer started her. John, her hus-
band-he was divorced from her five
years ACCUSED to bring home beer in
the evening, and she got to like it too
well. Now she drinks stale beer in tin
cans when she can't get whisky OF
rum. tell you, beer starts most of
them. Out of fifty women arrested
here last summer learned that thirty
of them got their first taste for liquor
from beer.
The reporter questioned promi-
ment physician of this city, who was
for several years connected with the
staff of the Fort Hamilton Home fol
Inebriates, regarding the way women
begin to drink.
II have studied rather carefully into
this subject" replied the doctor, ''and
have few figures which may be in
teresting. Out of 200 inebriated WON
en-, some of whom belong to our so
called first society," found that 12t
began their drinking by the use o
beer. 81 by drinking whisky Gas puncl
at first usually, 20 began with wine.
with gin, and II could not remember
what beverage was first used. OF thu
beverages first used, while in but 8
cases it began with whisky, in 1S
it had become the favorite bev
erage. Several hopeless drunk
ards, have gone toward insanity
had never drank any other intoXi
cant than beer. One hundred ant
twenty-five were committed to prison
for drunkenness. Sc for offense
against chastity and public order ant
16 for crimes against property. Thei
ages when last committed averaged
800 years. Sixty-fve were between
so and IL years of age, 40 between 2
and 81 years of age, "a between 20 ant
26 years of age. 80 between 10 and 2
years of age. The remainder wer
over Al years of age" ....
.'How did this drinking affect thei
children?"
Il have some statistics on this sub
iect, too. OF Ill inebriate mothers
SO of whom had inebriate husbands
4oS children were born. OF these %
persisted in infancy and early child
hood, and of the survivors many ar
doomed evidently to an early deatl
In many cases the death of these chi
dren was indirectly due to the inebrie
ty of the parents, as cold, deprivation
etc. Ages: Twenty-seven of the 20
women began to drink intoXicants b'
fore they were ten years OF agei IL b'